Take The Car

It had been a decade since I used the Toronto Transit Commission for my commute, and boy did those 10 years see a huge decline in service. The current system lacks customer service and schedule regimentation. Routes have been cut back and inspection has fallen by the wayside. It’s common to wait 20 minutes for buses that are supposed to arrive every 8 minutes, only to have three of them arrive at once, with the first packed to the gills and the third totally empty. I spent a few years looking for a job that would allow me to take the TTC to work, but two years of that have really brought the Take The Car jibe home.

This rant courtesy of the news item from the other week bidding my favourite subway car adieu. Sure, the lack of AC makes them nightmarish in summer, but the soft, bench-style seats were more flexible and friendly than the plastic chairs in the new cars, whose layouts aren’t as sophisticated. In my mind, this marks the end of the TTC as a customer-oriented service. They’re nothing but people-movers now, and they aren’t even very good at that.